Legislative lowdown: Catholic Benefits Association wins injunction from PWFA rule

A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction blocking enforcement of certain provisions of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) against an estimated 9,000 Catholic employers.

The Catholic Benefits Association (CBA) had sued the EEOC on behalf of its members, along with the Diocese of Bismarck, alleging that an EEOC rule requiring employers to consider worker accommodations for abortion and infertility treatments, violated CBA members’ religious and free speech rights.

In granting the Catholic organization a permanent injunction, US District Judge Daniel Traynor barred the EEOC from enforcing the PWFA in a manner that would require its members or the Diocese of Bismarck “to accommodate abortion or infertility treatments that are contrary to the Catholic faith.”

EEOC may revisit certain PWFA provisions. The April 15 ruling is the latest victory for religious and political organizations that have challenged a 2024 EEOC rule for implementing the PWFA, a law that requires employers to consider accommodation requests from employees who are pregnant, have given birth, or are experiencing a related medical condition.

The rule states that “related medical conditions” may include abortion or fertility treatments.

Catholic organizations including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops won a temporary injunction from complying with the rule last June, HR Brew previously reported.

Republican state attorneys general from 17 states also challenged the rule on the grounds it went further than the original bipartisan legislation, which was signed into law in 2023. While this lawsuit was initially dismissed, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February that the states have standing to sue.

Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has taken issue with the broad scope of the EEOC rule, and said she wants the agency to “reconsider portions” of it once it’s re-established a quorum. President Trump fired two Democratic members of the EEOC in January before their terms expired.

Enforcement focuses on pregnancy accommodations. During the final year of the Biden administration, the EEOC filed a number of lawsuits claiming PWFA violations, and recently announced it had settled lawsuits against two different employers. One case alleged that a plant nursery denied a worker’s return after maternity leave, while another alleged that an assisted living company fired a temporary staffer after learning she was pregnant.

Thus far the EEOC hasn’t filed any complaints related to the abortion provisions of the PWFA rule.